Words and photos by Michael Chandler

What you see here is something we can all get behind. Literally and figuratively. This is an Integra GSR that has, to say the least, a lot of work done. To say the most it’s had the custom touch applied to almost everything.

We met Rhett at Miller Motorsports Park at a NASA event about a year ago. He was there campaigning his GSR in Time Trial. We really dug the car, and Rhett. He’s a humble, down to Earth guy. We chatted with him for a little bit, then he loaded up the car and disappeared back to Idaho. For a while. We honestly thought he had disappeared and was gone forever. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, and he and the car reappeared .

In his absence from the track he did some work. Some very custom work to the front end especially. He didn’t really like any of the aftermarket bumpers on the market, but he liked some aspects of them. So, he bought one and cut it apart. He liked the Voltex bumper for the Lancer Evolution, so he grabbed some cans of spray foam and got to spraying. He cut and trimmed, and shaped and formed, and he had a mold for a bumper. But then he decided he didn’t like it, and started looking at cars closer to his Integra. Specifically the Honda S2000, because both are long hood vehicles, as opposed to the stubby hooded Evo. Out came the knife and the spray foam and, after filling the garage with foam shavings, he had the foam cored Carbon Fiber bumper you see before you. It’s so strong you can stand on the inlet and only have to worry about scratching the finish. The canards are are also one off pieces, made by vacuum infusing utilizing carbon fiber with foam cores.

Continuing the one off theme, the hood is also something Rhett and company fabricated. No, he didn’t just cut a hole in the hood and slap on a set of DMax vents. It’s vacuum infused carbon fiber with a foam core. The fenders have been heavily modified with a mix of carbon fiber and fiberglass around foam cores. The roof is also vacuum infused carbon fiber around a foam core. Even the APR GTC 200 wing sits atop custom chassis mounted stands. The only exterior parts that aren’t custom are the Pro Car Innovations side skirts, rear bumper and doors.

The interior hasn’t received nearly as many custom touches as the exterior, but it does have some nice touches like the carbon fiber panel with Carlyle rocker switches. Cobra Sebring Pro seats replace the factory chairs, with Crow five point harnesses holding the occupants in place. A Tuner View II display has been custom mounted, and JDM arm rest and airbag deletes installed. Gear changes are initiated with a Hybrid Racing adjustable shifter, and directional changes are made with a 330mm MOMO steering wheel on an NRG quick release. And since he runs in NASA sanctioned events, and not some fly by night series, he has a 6 point certified roll cage.

Rhett campaigns the Unlimited class, where his competition includes an R35 GTR and an Audi R8 LMS. He couldn’t just roll out there with crazy aero and nothing more than an exhaust, so he got to work on making the B18C1 mill ready to handle the stout competition. The block itself is stock and retains the OEM 81mm bore, but the pistons and rods have been tossed in favor of Wiseco Race shaped and prepped pistons atop Eagle rods. ACL race bearings keep things spinning in an orderly manner. The cylinder head has received plenty of love as well. It’s been ported, polished and bowl matched and lovingly stuffed with GSC T1 camshafts and Supertech HD valve springs and retainers.

Up top there’s a Skunk2 Pro Series intake manifold with a 70mm Pro Series throttle body bringing in the air. A Skunk2 composite fuel rail sends fuel to a quartet (…four) Injector Dynamics ID1000 injectors. A 6 port B&R breather box keeps the air out of the oil, before sending it through the custom thermostatic oil cooler setup. The cooler itself is almost the size of a stock Civic radiator! The 1.8 liter VTEC mill is held in place with Hasport billet mounts with 94a durometer inserts, and Avid billet torque mounts

All of that oil cooling is necessary because there is a Turbo By Garrett GT3071 turbocharger hanging off of a LoveFab Mini EQ manifold. The manifold has been wrapped and the turbo itself sits under a blanket, both are from DEI. That hairdryer gets it’s fresh air from a custom, carbon fiber ram air air box and massive four inch piping. Since this isn’t some old turbo Colt, there’s an intercooler. A big one. A big, custom dual back door piece. The excess pressurized air is releived via a Synapse blow off valve. Because of the increased thermal load, there has to be a big, custom radiator. The spent air, after exiting the turbo, leaves the car through a custom three inch V-Band exhaust with a five inch, round, Magnaflow muffler. Other custom parts include a custom electric power steering, and water pump system. There’s also a custom transmission cooler and pump set up.

Which is good, because there’s an Elite/Gear X Transmission straight-cut 1-5 dog box that needs to be kept cool. Shoved in that transmission is an OS Giken 1 way plate differential, which sends power to Drive Shaft Shop 3.9 axles and hubs. Massive StopTech four piston calipers clamp down on 12.9 inch rotors. There are bronze and spherical bearings all over the car from Password:JDM, Pro Car Innovations and Special Motorsports Projects.

Password:JDM also provided the rear camber and lower control arms, and Hard Race provides front camber A arms. There are Eibach Multi Pro R2 coilovers at all four corners, because adjust-ability is crucial when you’re chasing fractions of a second. An ASR subframe brace and Integra Type-R rear sway bar are, well, in the rear. Rhett has two sets of wheels for the car, and three sets of tires. Variety is the spice of life, and being well prepared for most situations is pretty awesome. Depending on the day the car is either on a set of 17×9 Rota Grids, or 17×9.75 XXR 527s. His choices for rubber are 235/40 Toyo R888s, 225/40 Hoosier R6s, and finally 255/40 Hankook RS3s.

As we were shooting the photos, Rhett told me his car was invited to compete in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and also have a spot in the SEMA show. This was an awesome thing to hear, and really cool to see his car at the show and roll out. How did Rhett do? Well, much like the day we shot the car he was having issues. The fuel pump went out, so a stock one had to be used. This meant 30% throttle, no more than 6500rpm, and no VTEC. Suddenly becoming the lowest horsepower vehicle sounds like it would have been a disaster, but Rhett managed to finish twenty-eighth out of ninety-two competitors. Not too bad for something built in a garage in Idaho.

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.

What makes a cool car? I heard someone say that “the scene” considers a car cool if it’s lowered and has wheels on it. Others think cool is a full on race build, with street legality and budgets thrown in the trash with the stock struts. And others think if it isn’t adorned with the rarest of the rare it’s a waste of time. And it has to be daily driven, or else why build it? David Arellano’s 2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS is low, and on a rare set of wheels. It has the heart of a WRX, and enough power to embarrass some people’s dedicated track day toy. And it sees regular street duty. If this isn’t cool, then I don’t know what is anymore.

The search for his “Gumball” began three years ago. While biting into a sandwich, he was bitten by the urge to spend a large amount of money on a car. After mulling over such reliable, and easily modified chassis such as FD RX-7s and twin turbo 300ZXs, David finally settled on the mildly rare 2.5RS coupe. After looking at two other coupes he finally found the 2000 coupe you see here sitting in the corner of a shop. The shop was in the process of building the car, and swapping in a 2.0L WRX motor. With the promise of “prototype” coilovers, David was sold. After some hemming and hawing by the shop, they finally dropped it off in David’s driveway. No coilovers, but some blown struts and what would turn out to be a mismatched transmission and rear differential were in the car (which eventually failed), but so was that lovely WRX motor. Soon after arriving in his driveway, David got to work making this car his own.

First things to go were the US spec lights. David made a call to Japan and had some OEM clear corner markers and red/clear tail lights sent over, along with some Chargespeed clear bumper markers and clear signal lenses. With the scourge that is amber lighting removed and banished to the land of wind and ghosts, it was time to address some other visual cues. After running through a Bugeye WRX lip, and a Bakemono replica of a JDM V5/6 STi lip, David finally settled on something that is no longer in production: Orciari 1 piece front lip. Sitting above the Italian made lip, are his OEM fog lights which were hiding behind the OEM fog light covers. Out back there’s a purple Rallytech tow hook, and a set of Honda Accord spats. According to David they were easier to install than his OEM JDM spats, and they look better. He’s also sporting rolled and pulled fenders, because low car problems (the tires were munching the fenders before the rolling and the pulling) and also because wheel whore.

I use that last term lightly. Having a garage full of Rotas and other OEM whatever make you drive wheels, makes you a wheel street walking hooker. Having the stuff David has had makes you a wheel high class escort. The streets aren’t littered with Volk CE28Ns or Work Emotion 11Rs, and coming across a set of Volk C-Ultras isn’t as easy as walking to the store. He’s had the CE28Ns and the Works, and the C-Ultras are being repaired (they were in pretty rough shape) and custom center caps are being designed. Enough about the past and the future, let’s talk about the present. Specifically these 17×9 +38 Desmond Regamaster Marquis Promadas. An exceedingly rare, Russian made wheel. Normally you see Regamasters on Hondas, and while that’s not terribly unusual (but still cool, so if you’re doing that keep doing that) seeing them on a Subaru is VERY different. Wrapped around the wheels are a set of Achillies ATR Sport tires, measuring in at 205/40. Also of note, he’s running some adapters to make the wheels work. They’re 15mm 5×100-5×114, and they’re made by a local company called Grapple Parts.

To achieve his stance David had to not only throw on coilovers, but things that allow him to make suspension adjustments. The coilovers are BC Racing BR series coilovers with camber plates fore and aft. For more camber adjustment, he is employing OEM camber bolts up front, and Eibach’s in the rear. Joining the OEM camber bolts in the front is an OEM WRX swaybar, while an STi sway bar joins the party in the rear. Also back there are some Cobb end links. Back to the front, and in the engine bay, is a Cusco Type ST strut tower bar. And speaking of the engine bay…

Here it is, in all its glory! There is the afore mentioned WRX swap, which came from a 2004 WRX. No longer is the wrong transmission behind the motor, a 2006 WRX transmission has taken its rightful place on the back end of the motor. Between the motor and transmission rests an Exedy light weight fly wheel, and stage 1 clutch. For enhanced shifting pleasure there are Kartboy shifter bushings, and a stainless steel clutch cable has been installed. Holding the transmission is a STi Group N mount. Rigged Performance performed an internal stub axle conversion and a 2001 2.5RS 4.11 final drive conversion to pair with the 2001 2.5RS viscous limited slip differential. Bracing that rear differential is a Laile Beatrush rear differential brace.

The motor has been hepped up on goof balls accentuated by digging through the massive Subaru parts bin, and picking up quality aftermarket pieces. The OEM supplied parts are a VF39 turbocharger, top mount intercooler, and 565CC fuel injectors all from an STi. The aftermarket bits are a K&N Typhoon intake, a no name one piece header and up pipe, an Invidia Bellmouth downpipe, and a Cobb cat back exhaust. There’s also a Hallman Pro manual boost controller, which helped Jason Cleverly of Cleverly Tuned tune the car to make 286 horsepower and 240lb/ft of torque at 18psi of boost. Prettying up the bay are a Cusco turbo heat shield, Rallytech fuse box cover and radiator shroud, and a Beatrush alternator shroud. The engine bay has been semi-wire tucked, and the battery is now in the trunk. The coolant reservoir is now hiding in the fender and the A/C has been ditched all together.

The interior has also received its share of JDM goodies. JDM STi pedals and Type-RA front seats have been installed, along with a Nardi Torino steering wheel, Splash steering wheel hub and Omori boost gauge. The Beatrush Duracon shift knob sits on a stock length shifter, which has a Zealous Interiors blue suede shift boot with cherry blossom red stitching. The shift boot matches the emergency brake boot. Black WRX carpet and STi floor mats have come to rest at the bottom of the passenger cabin, and the door panels have been recovered in blue suede. All the lighting is LED, and tunes come courtesy of an Alpine deck, which has an ipod cable weaving out of sight through the center console.

Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart is famously quoted as saying “I know it when I see it” in regard to hardcore pornography. Cool is definitely subjective, but when you see it, you definitely know it. Will there be a unanimous consensus on what is cool in the automotive world? Probably not, but if there is ever an argument to be made for it, I shall submit David’s Impreza as my exhibit A.

Words and photos by Michael Chandler

*Article and Photos are copyright of CAMAutoMag.Com and their respective owners.